Drawing guns

[SuicideCommando]

So I was sketching the other day, just making random things on page 2 of my smaller sketch book, like a gob of goo with an eyeball, evil grinning face with octopus tentacles for a chin, tombstones, etc, totally random, and i made a silhouette of a guy holding a gun...except I couldn't draw the gun for the life of me! It came out terrible every attempt I made. I tried looking up pictures of revolvers on google for reference but just couldn't draw one in my pic.
Any tips? Should I just start looking up pics of guns like I did and just draw guns and guns and guns?

[Gorgonzola]

The sooner you start thinking of guns in simple forms, the better. Guns are actually ridiculously easy once you have

a) good reference
b) good handling on perspective
c) good idea of how those guns break down into simple shapes

If it helps, a way to think about it is sculpting. A classic revolver is composed of maybe three, four various sized rectangles (barrel, cylinders, handle, and maybe hammer, if it's pronounced enough.)

It's kinda like life-drawing, honestly, which is funny. If you pay attention to the proportions of the gun (which REALLY affect how believable it looks) and what simple shapes it's composed of, you can start drawing them really well.

A good book for reference is The Illustrated Book of Guns, by Edward Miller. I dunno how hard it is to find (found it in the bargain bin at a Barnes and Noble,) but it has a lot of photos of different guns, most if not all of them sideviews and all that.

[Cinsev]

try this!

http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/guns/pistol.htm

im sure its gonna be useful! no offence if its too rudimentary

[warhole]

if you want to draw a specific gun search for the .... (sig/glock/whatever) picture thread in the big web
enough pics for reference

[ultimate-jeff]

A while back I purchased this book called Weapons File. It's full of photos of different kinds of guns from many different angles and some pictures of people holding them too. I highly recommend it. Here's the amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/Weaponsfile-Supersized-Antarctic-Press/dp/0976804336/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242954228&sr=1-2

Also, apparently a new version of the book is out with more photos in it.
http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-File-Extreme-Arsenal-Supersized/dp/097977196X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242954228&sr=1-1

[Oakhorse]

I'm certainly not an expert on drawing guns or drawing in general for that matter but I just saw an interview with Frank Miller and he mentioned something that could help you. He said that he learned from a friend that 3 dimensional objects make the best reference. If you want to learn how to draw a car, buy a model car. If you want to learn how to draw a gun, I would go and get a toy gun. I think it's good advice.